Physical Education
St. Michael's PE Curriculum
At St. Michael's we encourage all children to be physically active as part of their everyday lifestyle; our aim is to make physical activity fun and enjoyable regardless of children’s physical abilities. Sport is for all and sport is for life.
We aim for all pupils to develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities, are physically active for sustained periods of time and engage in competitive sports and activities. We hope this will inspire the children in our school to lead healthy, active lives. We participate in a number of competitive tournaments against schools from our local area to promote teamwork and competitive spirit. The tournaments are aimed at all children, and throughout their time at St. Michael's, all children will be given the opportunity to participate.
We are delighted that our PE curriculum is supported by No.1 Sports for
each Primary Activity; the Secondary/Swimming Activities are supported
by Mrs Carole Pearce.
St. Michael's PE Curriculum Yearly Overview | ||
| Term | Primary Activity | Secondary Activity |
| Term 1 - Autumn | Gymnastics | Swimming |
| Term 2 - Autumn | Gymnastics | Swimming |
| Term 3 - Spring | Dance & Movement | Swimming |
| Term 4 - Spring | Multi Skills | Swimming |
| Term 5 - Summer | Athletics | Swimming |
| Term 6 - Summer | Outdoor Education | Swimming |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rabbits Class / Yr.R | Swimming | PE & Balanceability | |||
| Squirrels Class / Yr.1 | Swimming | PE | |||
| Hedgehogs Class / Yr.2 | Swimming | PE | |||
| Otters Class / Yr.3 | PE | Swimming | |||
| Red Deer Class / Yr.4 | PE | Swimming |
Swimming at St. Michael's
“All schools must provide swimming instruction either in Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2. In particular, pupils should be taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively such as front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations." National Curriculum for England and Wales; Physical Education 2014
Since 1994, swimming and water safety has been a statutory element of the national curriculum for physical education in England. This means that every 11-year old child should leave primary school with the skills to keep themselves safe while enjoying swimming with friends and family. Since St. Michael’s children grow up with direct access to the coast we fully support this rationale. Swimming at St. Michael’s is timetabled for all pupils (Yr.R-Yr.4) throughout the whole school year. Swimming lessons take place weekly and last for approximately 25minutes.
The three national curriculum outcomes: swimming is the only sport to be included within the national curriculum physical education programme of study. All primary schools must provide swimming and water safety lessons in either Key Stage 1 or 2. Each pupil is required to be able to do the following:
Perform safe self-rescue in different water based situations;
Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres;
Use a range of strokes effectively, for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke.
Balanceability
Balanceability is the UK's only afPE Approved Learn to Cycle programme for children predominantly in EYFS and KS1. Balanceability is a nationwide programme.
33% of parents say their children can't ride a bike (British Cycling / You Gov 2018), which means they miss out on the countless benefits of being able to cycle.
At St. Michael's want to embed cycling into the lives and psyches of all children. The unique Balanceability programme has been specially designed with child development experts and cycling professionals so that all children have the opportunity to learn to ride a bike.
Balanceability promotes the physical benefits of cycling for our young children as well as providing a fun and engaging activity. The programme offers children the ability to become competent cyclists at an early age through the development of balance and control .
Every warm-up and balance-related activity has been specifically chosen to allow the child to experience movement in a number of ways. Differentiation is about meeting everyone's needs. The only consideration is that Balanceability provides plenty of opportunity for children to practice skills in a number of ways to help move towards the outcomes.
Cycling can change lives; it's that simple, and it's that profound.
Clubs, Event Days & Extra-Curricular Opportunities 
Lunch Club: Every Mon-Thursday, we run an Active Lunch Club, as delivered by No.1 Sports. Each week a new game is introduced and then continued throughout the week for the children to get used to and then begin to develop tactics and strategies. For example we have run Capture The Flag, Abandon Ship, Cat and Mouse, Spider Tag, Dr Dr Spider and many other games. All the games work on gross motor skills as well as winning and losing and supporting team mates.
After School Clubs: as part of our of after-school clubs provision, we frequently include a range of sporting clubs and physical activity pastimes. These have included: Bowls Club, Outdoor Games, Zumba, Fun Swim, Dodgeball, Athletics, Football, Cricket, Balance-ability, Archery, Hockey, etc. We are always keen to extend and expand this offer.